Disney Animation Head Jared Bush on Letting Go of Good Ideas in Storytelling

Jared Bush, head of Walt Disney Animation Studios, recently spoke at the Created in L.A. event for content creators about the importance of letting go of good ideas in storytelling.

Bush discussed how the iterative process of making movies is never truly done until the last frame is fully animated, and that sometimes what makes a great story means sacrificing an attachment to a particular idea.

He revealed details about the production of Zootopia, including early animation on the film. When he was hired to work on the project, it was initially a spy movie but by the time he began working on it, that version had already been scrapped. Bush spent three years trying to make an earlier concept of Zootopia, where predators were forced to wear 'tame collars' and prey animals ran the city, work.

Bush said the idea was universally praised as emotionally powerful but ultimately hindered the film's overall enjoyment. The tame collar concept was eventually abandoned in favor of a more nuanced approach that came together in just three months after the plot had been changed.